 | Michael Mann film director: Encyclopedia II - Michael Mann film director - Career
Michael Mann film director - Career
Michael Mann film director - Early days
He spent 7 years in the United Kingdom, then moved back to the United States and began career as a writer on such shows as Vega$ and Starsky and Hutch. His first feature movie was a made-for-TV special called The Jericho Mile. His television work also includes having acted as director and producer on such shows as Miami Vice and Crime Story.
Michael Mann film director - Thief
Mann is best known for making gritty crime dramas. The two films that cemented this reputation were Thief and Manhunter. They feature intense performances from James Caan and William Petersen respectively and showcase Mann's ability to write realistic, thought-provoking dialogue and create incredibly atmospheric worlds for his characters to inhabit. Thief focuses on Frank (Caan), a master safe-cracker who makes a Faustian deal with the Mob only to realizes that he has lost his independence at the price of material gain.
Michael Mann film director - Manhunter
Manhunter is a chilling trip into the mind of a serial killer who butchers whole families to fuel his fantasies. William Petersen plays a profiler named Will Graham who must come out of retirement and use his special ability to empathize with murderers. It is the first film to feature the character Hannibal Lecter (played by Brian Cox) or Lektor as he was renamed for this version of Thomas Harris' 1990 novel Red Dragon. Red Dragon was later remade by producer Dino De Laurentis and director Brett Ratner with Edward Norton in the pivotal role of Will Graham and Anthony Hopkins returning as Hannibal Lector. Manhunter, though, remains arguably the best film in the Lector series, with a cult following across the globe.
Michael Mann film director - Heat
The film that Mann is probably most remembered for is Heat which features the legendary, first time on-screen together, pairing of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. This movie is a cops and robbers epic with an impressive bank heist sequence that is one of the very best of its kind ever put on screen. The themes of duality and personal philosophies, such as impulse and methodicalism are explored while clashing with gritty realism.
Michael Mann film director - The Insider
Based on a true story, The Insider, a searing indictment of the tobacco industry and of TV network censorship, is perhaps Mann's masterwork. Russell Crowe plays high-level tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand who is unfairly fired from his job. He meets with a 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) and blows the whistle, stating that tobacco companies know cigarettes are addictive and continues to sell them to the public at large anyway. CBS gets cold feet and censors the interview, destroying Wigand's life in the process. Bergman, understandably upset, sets out to clear Wigand's name and get his interview back on the air.
Michael Mann film director - Ali
While it received mixed reviews from the critics and a lukewarm reception at the box office, Ali is an absorbing historical biopic in the grand tradition of Oliver Stone. It is an epic with an all-star cast. Will Smith goes all out with his portrayal of Muhammad Ali. The problem inherent with doing a movie like this is that there is so much documented footage of the real Ali that any fictionalized account is going to have tough fight against it.
Michael Mann film director - Collateral
Collateral is a tightly-wound thriller shot on the streets of Los Angeles with state-of-the-art digital cameras. Tom Cruise turns in one of his best performances as Vincent, a coldly efficient hitman in town to take out five witnesses in a high profile case. He forces Max, a cab driver (Jamie Foxx) to drive him around the city to each of his murders. The film catapulted Jamie Foxx to fame, and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performace.
Michael Mann film director - Miami Vice
Miami Vice is the film adaptation of the hit TV series of the same name which Mann executive produced. It stars a completely new cast with Colin Farrell in Don Johnson's role and Jamie Foxx filling in Philip Michael Thomas' shoes.
Michael Mann film director - Future projects
Mann has many projects in developement after Miami Vice such as:
- Arms and the Man - A federal agent goes on a hunt for some stolen plutonium. Mann is most likely to do this film after Miami Vice.
- Public Enemies - Starring Leonardo DiCaprio ,the film is based on the book Public Enemies about the 1930s crime wave and J. Edgar Hoover's campaign against it.
- Damage Control - Mann will reunite once again with Jamie Foxx in this sports drama.
- The Few - The film is being produced by Tom Cruise, who was also set to star but has dropped out. The fate of the film remains unknown.
- Hatfields and McCoys - A drama about the famous feud between the neighboring farmers that began when a Hatfield under Confederate colors killed a McCoy who was fighting for the Union army, possibly starring Brad Pitt.
Other related archives1930s, 1943, 1999, 2004, 60 Minutes, Academy Award, Al Pacino, Ali, American, Brad Pitt, Brian Cox, CBS, Chicago, Illinois, Colin Farrell, Collateral, Confederate, Crime Story, Dante Spinotti, Don Johnson, Faustian, February 5, Hannibal Lecter, Hatfields and McCoys, Heat, J. Edgar Hoover, James Caan, Jamie Foxx, Jan Hammer's, Jeffrey Wigand, Leonardo DiCaprio, Los Angeles, Lowell Bergman, Manhunter, Miami Vice, Muhammad Ali, New Age, Oliver Stone, Oscars, Philip Michael Thomas, Robert De Niro, Russell Crowe, Starsky and Hutch, The Insider, The Keep, The Last of the Mohicans, Thief, Tom Cruise, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vega$, Will Graham, Will Smith, William Petersen, censorship, empathize, fantasies, feature film, film director, graduate degree, producer, retirement, same name, screenwriter, serial killer, tobacco industry
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Career", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
